Vol 9 No 3 - Page 3

Interpretation: New Focus within Literary Research

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Julieta Leo

Universidad de Monterrey. ORCID ID: 0000-0003-4180-2985. Email: julieta.leo@udem.edu

Volume IX, Number 3, 2017 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v9n3.05

Received July 31, 2017; Revised September 13, 2017; Accepted September 17, 2017; Published September 20,  2017.

Abstract

The differences and difficulties found upon doing literary research are analyzed.  The fact that researchers also interpret is highlighted as well as the need for sufficient time and freedom to do their research.  The use of adequate selection criteria, the subjectivity and intuition of the exegete, as well as the use of concepts such as respect for the literal meaning (Umberto Eco) and the analogy of proportion (Inger Enkvist) are proposed as appropriate guidelines for establishing renovated, but systematic reading of texts.

Keywords: literary theory, hermeneutics, research strategies, reading.

Factors of Positioning and Accreditation of Cultural Agents in a Local Field of Cultural Production

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Jesús Eduardo Oliva Abarca

Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, México

ORCID ID 0000-0001-7150-4693. Email: jesus.olivaabr@uanl.edu.mx

Volume IX, Number 3, 2017 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v9n3.04

Received August 09, 2017; Revised September 02, 2017; Accepted September 09, 2017; Published September 20, 2017.

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the attitudes, skills, and practices, which an aspiring cultural agent must accomplish in order to gain a position in the field of cultural production and to be credited as a functional actor of the art system. The research was limited to the Mexican state of Nuevo León, with the objective of obtaining an overview of the local artistic field from their own actors’ experiences, opinions, and perspectives. The research results demonstrated that the aspiring cultural agents must be capable of fulfilling different roles, being creators, as well as their own promoters and managers at the same time. Also, they must be involved in institutional events in order to be recognized by other cultural agents. Finally, the organization of the local artistic field is defined by intrinsic cultural factors, as well as by extrinsic political and economic circumstances.

Keywords: art world, cultural agent, distribution context, field of cultural production, production domain

On Secular Spirituality in the Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things, Series 1

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Liesl E. King

York St John University, England. Email: l.king@yorksj.ac.uk

Volume IX, Number 3, 2017 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v9n3.03

Received August 07, 2017; Revised September 12, 2017; Accepted September 17, 2017; Published September 20,  2017.

 Abstract

This paper explores the way in which the Duffer Brothers’ popular Netflix series Stranger Things draws on religious symbolism in order to create an allegorical landscape, one which invites viewers to consider the most pressing topics of our time—climate change and ideological opposition. It argues that apocalyptic sf, with its focus on urgent contemporary questions related to technological advancement, is the perfect genre for exploring secular spirituality and ethics, as it potentially impacts as well as appeals to religious and non-religious viewers alike. The paper concludes by considering the way Stranger Things encourages viewers to consider what a ‘spiritual’ response to disaster might look like, and what we might do individually and collectively to become more aware of the damaged “hyperobjects” (Morton, 2013) that surround and move through us, but which can be extremely difficult to keep in clear view.

Keywords: Netflix series, Stranger Things, hyperobjects, climate change, ideological opposition.

Haptic Perception Meets Interface Aesthetics: Cultural Representations of Touchscreen Technology in the Aftermath of the iPhone 2007

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Katheryn Wright

Associate Professor, Core Division, Champlain College, USA

ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6485-9549. Email: kwright@champlain.edu

Volume IX, Number 3, 2017 I Full Text PDF

DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v9n3.02

Received August 10, 2017; Revised September 12, 2017; Accepted September 15, 2017; Published September 20,  2017.

Abstract

The touchscreen is something other than a boundary between real and illusory worlds, or what Anne Friedberg (2009) calls a “virtual window” (p. 96). The aesthetics of that ‘something else’ is not determined by the technology itself, but by its use in a myriad of cultural practices including how it is represented as a commodity and an experience. This article examines the representation of touchscreen technology following the release of the iPhone in 2007, comparing a Nine Inch Nails rock concert and Blackberry commercial from 2008 with Bjork’s album/app Biophilia and an American Express advertisement from 2011. Comparing these media experiences reveals a representational shift that occurs between the introduction of the touchscreen and the cultural integration of this technology just three years later. A focus on breaking through the frame of the screen shifts into screen interfaces as the building blocks for the virtual construction of “hybrid space” (De Souza e Silva, 2006).

 Keywords: screen, touch, interface, haptic, body